2012年3月9日 星期五

It’s a ‘hugue’ place

The fabulous apartments of late copper heiress Huguette Clark will soon officially be on the market with Brown Harris Stevens broker Mary Rutherfurd, Gimme Shelter has learned.

When Clark died last year at 104, real estate insiders gushed that her apartments — which total 42 rooms and a massive 17,000 square feet of space — that she had amassed at 907 Fifth Ave. could be worth $100 million. To add to the mystique, Clark did not live there, though she had the space immaculately cleaned and staffed a few times a week — it was home to her spooky doll collection.

However, insiders tell The Post the property is really estimated to be worth around $45 million to $60 million because the space consists of three unconnected apartments and the ultra-strict co-op board has not yet ruled on whether or not the two Clark apartments on the eighth floor can be joined. Brokers said the eighth-floor apartments could fetch a total between $20 million and $35 million. Combined, they’d be worth more.

“It’s a great opportunity to own more than 10,000 square feet on Fifth Avenue,” one source who has walked through the units says.

There’s also a 12th-floor apartment that could be priced around $25 million.

This news comes shortly after Manhattan Surrogate’s Court Judge Kristin Booth Glen called Clark’s lawyer, Wallace Block, and accountant, Irving Kamsler, “unfit to serve” and suspended them from administrating Clark’s affairs after they were suspected of taking advantage of the elderly heiress.

Clark’s relatives are also challenging her will, claiming fraud by its beneficiaries: Block, Kamsler and her nurse, Hadassah Peri.

Obi-Want to live downtown

Scottish movie star Ewan McGregor is on the hunt for a posh downtown pad.

The “Star Wars” actor was spotted checking out a penthouse triplex condo at 58 Reade St. The four-bedroom, 3 1/2- bathroom, 4,464-square-foot TriBeCa apartment is listed for $8.995 million.

The condo, which has key-locked elevator access, boasts 1,200 square feet of outdoor space and a “restaurant-grade” kitchen with stainless-steel counters and a breakfast bar. Upstairs, an open living area with 18-foot ceilings could make for a great entertaining space — with terraces to the north and south, along with its own refrigerator, dishwasher and wet bar.

The building, which dates back to 1915, was converted to condos in 2001.

Hamptons-go-round

Adebayo Ogunlesi, a Nigerian finance executive, is buying venture capitalist John Pickett’s beach mansion on Great Plains Road in Southampton for $24 million — far less than its $38 million asking price.

Pickett, the former owner of the NHL’s New York Islanders, renovated the 17,000-square-foot mansion with architect Francis Fleetwood. Pickett bought the home, which comes with 200-year-old beech trees, for $5.5 million in 2001.

Corcoran Group listing broker Tim Davis declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Pickett is downsizing on the East End. He just bought a $3 million home on Cobblefield Lane in Southampton. That home was owned by Denis P. Coleman, a former executive at Bear Stearns.

The Mark is back on the market, with seven units ranging from $8.65 million to $60 million just listed at its desirable 25 E. 77th St. address.

For $60 million, a buyer can get a five-bedroom, 9,799-square-foot unit. Other apartments include a four-bedroom, 3,789-square-foot unit listed for $18.75 million.

Sales at the luxury hotel/residential building were able to commence again after developer Alexico Group’s Izak Senbahar and Simon Elias recapitalized the project. Corcoran Sunshine is marketing five of the units, while Corcoran Group broker Lauren Muss has the $18.75 million listing and Sotheby’s Serena Boardman and Eva Mohr have a three-bedroom, 3,183-square-foot, $15.75 million listing.

We hear . . .

That iconic artist Jeff Koons and his architect, Richard Olcott, are close to beginning construction of Koons’ mega-mansion. The project will connect two East 67th Street buildings to create a 21,500-square-foot home. At Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent Art for Water benefit, Koons told us that he and his wife need the space for their five children — and that they are even contemplating a sixth child . . . That Michael Lorber, director of business development for Douglas Elliman Worldwide Consulting, hosted a screening of the premiere of his new “Million Dollar Listing New York” Bravo show last night at the Core Club.